“Can I do better at communicating with you? At making this a partnership between us? Yes. And I will. But Devanna” — I brushed a strand of hair off her cheek and tucked it behind her ear — “I’ll always want to protect you, to keep you safe in any way I can, even though I know how little you need me, how capable you are on your own. I can’t change that part of me, so don’t ask me to.”
